1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a loading mechanism of a cassette tape recorder, and especially relates to a loading mechanism of a cassette tape recorder such as a digital audio tape recorder (hereinafter abbreviated as DAT) which has a cassette holder for carrying a cassette with a lid between an insert position and a setting position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A conventional loading mechanism of a cassette tape recorder, for example, shown in Published Unexamined Japanese Utility Model Application Sho 62-57951 is described referring to FIGS. 9, 10, 11 and 12.
In the figures, a cassette 40 containing a magnetic tape has a lid 40a which is urged by a spring in the cassette 40 (not shown in the figure) in a direction normally to close. A cassette holder 41 carries the cassette 40 between an insert position and a setting position. A lid opener 43 is rotatably supported by a pivot 42 at a position in the vicinity of the rear and lower end of the cassette holder 41 and has applied to it a torsional force in counterclockwise direction by a spring (not shown). A holding pin 44 is fixed on a deck 45 for holding the lid 40a in an opening state. Another pin 46 is provided in the vicinity of the holding pin 44 for pushing up to rotate the lid opener 43.
In the above-mentioned conventional loading mechanism of cassette tape recorder, when the cassette 40 is inserted into the cassette holder 41, the cassette 40 is kept in the cassette holder 41 by contacting a front end of a sliding lever (not shown). At this time, the lid 40a of the cassette 40 is at a position above the front edge 43a of the lid opener 43, as shown in FIG. 10.
When the cassette 40 is further pushed into the cassette holder 41 by a force of a hand which is stronger than that in the above-mentioned insert operation, the sliding lever touches a starting switch (not shown). When the starting switch is closed, the cassette holder 41 which contains the cassette 40 moves in a horizontal direction inward of the cassette tape deck 45.
During the movement of the cassette holder 41, the lid opener 43 is rotated by contacting the pin 46 in clockwise direction around the pivot 42 against an elastic force of a spring (not shown) which is applied to close the lid 40a. As a result, the lid 40a rotates through a predetermined angle in a counterclockwise direction and the lid 40a of the cassette 40 is opened as shown in FIG. 11.
After that, the cassette holder 41 carrying the cassette 40 moves down and the cassette 40 is mounted at a predetermined position. During the moving down of the cassette holder 41, the lid 40a, which is opened a predetermined angle by rotation of the lid opener 43, is fully opened by further contacting with and held by the folding pin 44, as shown in FIG. 12. When the cassette 40 is mounted at the predetermined position, the front end of the lid opener 43 touches the pin 46 and thereby the lid opener 43 is fixed at its uppermost position.
In the above-mentioned conventional loading mechanism of cassette tape recorder, there is a requirement that the pivot 42 of the lid opener 43 must be located at a position in the vicinity of a lower and rear end of the cassette holder 41. This is because, when the pivot 42 is positioned at a position in the vicinity of a higher and rear end of the cassette holder 41 as shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, the front end 43a of the lid opener 43 interferes the lid 40a of the cassette 40 during the opening operation of the lid 40a as shown in FIG. 14; and thereby the lid 40a cannot fully be opened.
In order to prevent the interference of the lid opener 43 and the lid 40a, the pivot 42 must be positioned in the vicinity of the lower and rear end of the cassette holder 41. As a result, a driving mechanism of the lid opener 43 must be positioned below the cassette holder 41. Thereby, the size of deck 45 can not be decreased, and hence the size of the cassette tape recorder can not be decreased.
Furthermore, the lid opener 43 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction by a spring in the cassette 40 during the movement of the cassette holder 41 from the setting position to the insert position. If the lid opener 43 cannot rotate for some reason and the cassette 40 is carried to the insert position without closing the lid 40a, the lid 40a may be broken when the cassette 40 is taken out from the cassette holder 41.